Process and apparatus for spinning artificial silk



Aug. 17, 1926. I 1,596,086

E.ELSAES$ER FAL PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING ARTIFICIAL SILK FiledOct. 9, 1924 Graven for- F 35562268 e/i' Patented Aug. 17, 1926.

UNITED STATES EMIL ELSAESSER AND, AUGUST HARTMANN, 0F BARMEN-LANGEBEELD,GERMANY, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 AMERICAN BEMBERGCORIORATION, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING ARTIFICIAL SILK,

Application filed October 9, 1924, Serial No.

In German patent specification No. 220,051

a process and apparatus is described for the spinning of artificialsilk, in which the fibres, after leaving the spinning nozzle, aresurrounded at first by a slowly flowing pre-- cipitating liquid, and notT untilafter they are partly drawn out therein and are also part yhardened and have thus become more resistant, are they seized by astrong current of liquid and carried farther. For this purpose apparatusis indicated which consists of a conical funnel, which is inserted in acylinder. In the latter the precipitating liquid is introduced frombelow and rises upwards therein, then flows over the funnel into thelatter edge of the conical and again assumes a downwardly directedmotion, to pass out finally at the lower aperture of the funnel. 20.

@tube T (Figure 1),

As the conical funnel' does not" extend right into the cylinder but endsabout 5 to 8 centimeters below its upper edge, the fibres first traversea rather long layer of very slowly moving precipitating liquid, whichserves for the careful drawing out of the fibres.

It has. now been found that it is also possible to spin if theprecipitating liquid is allowed to flow in the opposite direction in theconical funnel, that is to say, upwards. This is attained by connectingat or a short.

distance below the lower end of the cone,,

where the same merges into the cylindrical a side tube, and introducingthe precipitating liquid through this. In this case the current ofliquid divides, so that part of it flows upwar sthrough the cone in theopposite direction to the fibre, while another part flows downwardsthrough the ipe 1*, that is, in the same direction as the fi re.

r'rocesses are already known in which the flowing of the precipitatingliquid is likewise in the direction opposite to that of the fibres. Insuch cases however there is only one direction of flow in the spinningprocesses, whereas in the case of the present process both acounter-current and also a flow in thesamedirection take place in "oneand he same piece of spinning apparatus. a

.The importance of this flow in the same direction in the lower partshould not be underestimated as it is just here that the most rapidflowing of the precipitating ing liquid admitted from below,

742,699, andinfiermany November 5, 1923.

liquid occurs. Thus the fibre finds there no excessive friction, on thecontrary it is drawnby the strong current flowing in the same direction,and the pull of the winding apparatus is thereby assisted, so that inthis way the fibre is wound up on to the latter with a tension which isnot too great.

In the drawing three pieces of apparatus for carrying out the newprocess are illustrated.

Figure 1 shows spinning apparatus with a cylindrical ning cone,

FigureQ a oonically shaped piece of apparatus without a jacket, and

Figure 3 a cylindrical piece of'apparatus with a short conical additionat the bottom.

For the carrying out of the process, water is admitted through'the pipeat, which is connected to the cone 0 in the neighborhood of the union ofthe pipe 1', the outlets of the-pipes 1- and 8 being closed. When thewhole apparatus is filled with water the closure cover with the spinningnozzle plate 6 is put on, and the pipe 1" is then opened. Then the c ockis opened which lets the spinning solution pass through the nozzleplate. No flow of the water takes place at first through the funnel,that is, towards or against the descending fibres. The fibres canaccordingly, descend without meeting with any resistance. -When thefibres come to thejunction point of the tube a they find there onlythemotion of the water toward the outlet of 1', so from this ointonwards they are drawn along .wit it.

jacket and an internal spin- They are then passed on to the winding-"mechanism, and a beginning can now be made with the counter-current by,opening the closure of 8 also. The admission of wa-' ter is thenregulated by a in such a way that so much water flows out of s as isfound -by experience to be necessary for good spinning. I v

The cylindrical upper part of the spinning apparatus is made so longthat the drawing out of the fibres proceeds mainly therein. Now theprecipitating liquid in this part takes up much ammonia from the fibrepassing through it. It would soon become unusable. for the precipitatingor stiffening of the fibres if it were not constantly being renewed fromthe precipitatby meanl of which a condition of equilibrium suitable forgood spinning is roduced.

Instead of letting t e precipitating liquid flow away through the pipe 8is may be allowed to flow away through a pipe union of at th upper endof the spinning appa ratus, for the movement of the precipitating liquidin the upper cylindrical part of the apparatus is so small that itopposes no resistance at all to the passages of the fibre. In this caseof course the renewal of the precipitating liquid in the'cylindricalpart is somewhat quicker, which however causes no sort of harm. At mostthe hardeningof the fibres takes place somewhat more quickly. Hereagain, however, as in the first part,'there are two different flowspresent, one very slow and uniform in the cylindrical part, and onecontinuously varying with the cross-sectional area of the conical funnelin the latter.

Now if the discharge takes place from the pipe d, the apparatus canassume the simpler form according to Figure 2. Here the funnel 0 isconnected directly to the cylindrical piece f and is in one piecetherewith. w

It was found that it is possibl to work Without the conical funnel inthe interior of the cylinder and without giving the spinning vessel theform of the said funnel, so that in this way the apparatus, as Figure 3shows, consists only of a cylinder which is closed in a fluidtightmanner at the top by means of a 'cover. The cover I) carries the nozzleplate, while the lower end is closed by a cap, which carries in themiddle a short tubulure 1- to which the discharge pipe is secured by'means of rubber tubing. Furthermore a second short tubulure s isapplied to the bottom of the cap, through which the precipitating liquidenters In order that at the beginning of the spinning the descendingfibres may not remain lying on the bottom of the cap but may pass outthrough the pipe r it is preferiible to make the bottom somewhat conicaThus the flow of the precipitating liquid is not in this case slow atthe beginning and becoming slower later on, but a flow always remainingunformly slow in its passage through the cylinder. Instead ofintroducing the precipitating liquid through the pipe 8, it would bepossible, as in the case of Figures 1 and 2 to attach to the pip 1' aside} pipe, and tating liquid enter there.

' at we claim is:

of so directing the fiow 0 liquid that it is countercurrent to the mo-.

to let the precipi- 1. In the process of spinning artificial silk by thestretch spinnintg process, the step the precipitating tion of the fibreuntil it ispartially hardened and cocurrent to the motion of the fibreafter the fibre has been partially hardened.

2. In the silk by the stretch spinning process, the step of so directingthe flow of the precipitating liquid that it is slowly countercurrent tothe motion of the fibre until it is partially hardened and rapidlycocurrent-to the motion of the fibre after the fibre has been partiallyhardened.

3. In apparatus for spinning artificial silk by the stretch spinningmethod, a spinning rose for admission of the material to be spunsituated near the top of a treating vessel, means for the admission ofthe precipitating liquid, means for discharging precipitating liquid andfor removing the fibre being spun from the treatingvessel located belowthe inlet for the precipitating liquid, and other means forsimultaneously discharging precipitating liquid located above the inletfor the precipitating li, uid.

4. In apparatus for spinning arti cial silk by the stretch spinningmethod, a spinning rose located near the top of a funnel shaped treatingvessel, an inlet for precipitating liquid located at a cross section ofthe funnel of relatively small area, an outlet for the fibres being spunbelow the inlet for the precipitating liquid, and outlets forsimultaneously discharging precipitatingliquid near the bottom and topof the treating vessel. 5. In" apparatus for spinning artificial silk, atreating vessel provided with a spinning rose for the admission of thematerial to be spun located near its top, said treating vesselcomprising an upper portion of relatively large cross-section, a taperedintervening portion and a lower portion of relatively smallcross-section, an inlet for precipitating liquid located near the upperpart of said portion of smaller cross-section, an outlet forprecipitating liquid located below the said inlet and in the portion ofsmaller cross-section, and another outlet for the simultaneous dischargeof precipitating liquid located above said inlet and in the portion oflarger cross section.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this' specification.

EMIL ELSA'ESSER. AUGUST HARTNLAN N process of spinning artificial

